


lightning flowers

by na_scathach



Series: valgrace week 2k19 [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Valgrace Week 2019, it's not huge it's just a tiny shift it's fine, just a tad, slight - Freeform, slight angst but not too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 12:57:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/na_scathach/pseuds/na_scathach
Summary: Shocknoun1.a sudden upsetting or surprising event or experience.2.an acute medical condition associated with a fall in blood pressure, caused by such events as loss of blood, severe burns, allergic reaction, or sudden emotional stress, and marked by cold, pallid skin, irregular breathing, rapid pulse, and dilated pupils.Jason is possessed by an eidolon. Again. But this time, Piper isn't around and this one want's revenge against the person who killed it's Mistress.That person happens to be Leo Valdez, or Jason's boyfriend if you'd prefer.(three boys, a map, a warehouse, an angry eidolon and a boy who can summon lightning. you do the math)





	lightning flowers

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh good morning/evening/night to people reading this and welcome to my contribution to caphrodite's (cabinseven)- (formerly capolleon/applejuice) Valgrace Week 2019. the prompt for today was 'shock'. this is just a fluffy hurt/comfort thing, nothing too heavy or serious so just sit back and enjoy. 
> 
> (also i am playing fast and loose with eidolon lore and canon or whatever it is so if im fucking up RR's stuff just know that i dont care and that this is fanfiction and Riordan plays fast and loose with everything in his books so im allowed do the same)
> 
> (also also, warning for my fucking butchering of the Spanish language. for those who speak it, im sorry and i know your pain)
> 
> :)

Jason doesn’t _want_ to die for some cow. He really really doesn’t want to sacrifice his life for a Bull. But his Father really wants this particular bovine, and what his Father wants, he gets. 

“Kill them!” screeched the Cyclops, a northern one, like Ma Gasket, as it lumbered around the warehouse, wielding a girder as a crowbar, it’s one eye blinking into the darkness. Percy had hacked at its eye to leave it momentarily blinded, so at least they had that going for them. He could see Percy hidden behind a stack of metal pipes, Riptide glinting in the darkness. _‘Move? No?’_ Percy signed to him, ready to burst out at any moment. 

He felt Leo creep up beside him, his body a warm line of heat beside his as he knocked his head gently into Jason’s. He pulled Leo’s head forward so he could whisper in his ear, his lips pressed against Leo’s ear-lobe, so the Cyclops would remain ignorant of their location. 

He pretended the taste of Leo’s skin, of sweat and cigarette smoke, didn’t make his hair rise. “Are you ready?” he whispered, his voice barely above a single octave. 

He held up his hand, which was filled with tiny, improvised flash-bangs. Leo nodded, his eyes serious and hard. Which, while was unnerving, wasn't necessarily out-of-character. He had seen Leo serious plenty of times. 

Didn't explain why his seriousness made his stomach swoop in anticipation and excitement and general ' _my-boyfriend-is-hot-when-he-looks-homicidal'_ feelings. 

He rose his fist in the darkness, eyes locking with Percy's from across the warehouse as the Cyclops roared, lodging his girder-bat into the wall of the warehouse. 

Then, as soon as he had raised his fist, he pulled it back down through the air, moving them into action. 

Percy charged the monster, disorienting him as he weaved through his legs, taking swipes at the exposed flesh with Riptide. Jason dogged each angry swipe of the girder, using the winds to propel him away from the threat of the large metal bat. 

"Eyes!" Leo shouted, ducking and weaving until he was right at the feet of the raging Cyclops. Jason clamped his eyes shut, feeling nothing but the heavy pressure of the air beneath his feet as Leo threw his flash-bangs on the floor, showering the room in bright, blinding light, that bathed Jason's eyelids in white. 

"Arggggghhhg!" the Cyclops roared, blinded and Jason swooped in for the kill, going by the air vibrations of the beast and his other senses as the white died slowly. 

He hefted his sword and grinned, wolf-like, as his sword caught home, plunging into the monster's soft eye. One last screech of pain, that shook the foundations of the building before Jason wrenched open his eyes to watch it burst into gold dust, a gentle sprinkle falling onto Leo and Percy. 

"Ew! Did you have to explode it right onto us dude?-"

"That's what she said"

"-I'll be washing cyclops dust out of me until next week!" Percy moaned as he sheathed riptide and kicked Leo in the shin for his joke. 

Jason floated gingerly down, as Percy and Leo brushed themselves off. 

"Hey babe," Leo started, shaking like a wet dog, "do you wanna maybe use your magic wind powers to de-dust us?"

Jason blinked because he hadn't thought actually of doing that. Huh.

"I didn't think of doing that" he mumbled, directing the wind to rush around Percy and Leo, rustling their clothes and hair. Leo rolled his eyes, apparently catching what Jason had mumbled and Percy shivered as the cold winter wind ran around him whipping his hair and clothes around. Jason grimaced. That probably wasn't too pleasant for him. 

Jason still hated water. Stupid water and it's immeasurable dangerous capabilities, such as drowning, dangerous sea-animals, getting _lost_ at sea, the sudden oxygenation of your blood-

Jason stopped the wind, and Leo gave himself one last shake before smiling at Jason. 

"That's why I'm the brains in this relationship, babe. You're the muscle"

Percy snorted, taking the map out of his pocket. "If you're the brains, I'm suddenly much less terrified of the two of you being together".

Leo flipped him the bird, a scowl over his barely repressed grin. 

"So," Percy began, combing the map carefully. "Hera said Zeus' cow-"

"Bull" Jason heard himself interrupting. 

"Zeus'... bull, was in Detroit, but this map is fucking useless, so I vote-"

But before Percy could finish, all the hairs on Jason's arm stood up, his eyes thinning behind his glasses as he hefted his sword back into his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Percy do the same, gently un-capping riptide. 

"Something is here~" Leo sing-songed, his voice barely an octave above a whisper, slipping his knives into his palms, a thin grin pulling on his lips.

Leo had a multitude of usable weapons. From small throwing knives, large hammers and a rarely used pistol and Leo’s aim was impeccable. Jason considered it a gift from the gods whenever he brought out his gun. His knives were favored, however, over the others. Long, but thin, with plain hilts swathed in black cloth and celestial bronze blades. 

Jason gripped the hilt of his sword tighter, the groves of it digging into his palms comfortingly, the weight familiar. This should be a simple battle. Two children of the Big Three and a powerful son of Hephaestus make for deadly opponents.

They all fell into a triangle, their backs to each other, muscles tense with anticipation. Jason's gaze jumped from point to point, searching the shadows for movement or sound. His eyes were crystal clear, his ears perking at every slight sound. He could taste ozone on his tongue as his skin sparked. 

"Where the Hades is it?" Leo grumbled, turning his knives in his hands, frowning as if he was angry with the monster for wasting his time.

Jason could feel an uncomfortable warmth snake it’s way up to his spine and into his hands. His mouth tasted of iron and sulfur. He began to open his mouth to tell Leo to not antagonize the monster, whatever it was, but his mouth didn't comply. 

He tried again, but his mouth stayed stubbornly shut. Sweat beaded at his temples as a cold warmth ran up his spine, digging its claws into the space behind his eyes. 

He tried to move his arm, his hand, _anything,_ but he couldn't move. He stayed perfectly still, not even his facial expression changing, but inside, there was a tempest in his bones. 

This was familiar. 

"Well, looks like big and ugly freaked and ran. Pussy" he heard Leo chuckle and he tried calling out, desperation beginning to sink into his chest ' _Leo! Help!'_

_Hush now, godling. Do not struggle too much. I would… hate for you to die before I'm finished with you_

An eidolon. 

For the sweet mercy of Vesta, why? 

_Because you killed The Mother. Your little Phoenix took her. **Destroyed her.**_ _And I will do the same for you, son of Jupiter_

Jason felt the air rise around him as the eidolon took complete control of his body, his body floating gently on a pillar of air, turning his body so he could look down at the others. 

"Jace? What the fuck are you doing? Get down from there and help us find your Dad's bull"

He wanted to scream at Leo. ' _Look at my eyes!'_ he pleaded, face slack, his eyes cast upward, a foreign smirk plastered across his face. 

It was like he was a passenger, or a ghost, watching his own body do things he couldn't control. 

"Hey, Jason? Can you stop floating up to the ceiling and help?"

"Yeah, one second Leo, just checking something out”, the words clawed their way out his throat and Jason bit back the revulsion. He could feel himself talk, but he wasn’t the one talking. 

The sword in Jason's hand glinted dangerously in the dark winter light as the eidolon gripped it. 

He pushed and threw himself at the mental blocks, but the eidolon stayed in control. He wouldn't hurt Percy. His friend. His comrade. His equal and brother in arms. He imagined hurting Leo. He imagined stabbing him, or beating him-

His whole soul curled in revulsion and his body twitched. 

Yes. That's it. He pushed the rolling nausea down. He would force himself back into control. Not matter what. 

“Huh. Oh...kay, keep an eye out. And maybe take a Motrin? You look sick” Leo said, lowering his knives and turning back to Percy, who had pulled the map back out. 

Riptide was still gripped in his fist. 

So, he thought of Leo crying. He thought of Leo begging, asking why Jason wouldn't stop. He thought of Leo's own knives drenched in his own blood. 

He imagined Percy begging for their lives-

His body jerked and the eidolon screeched internationally. His mouth filled with bile. He hated this. He hated thinking these things because he could never do that to Leo. Or Percy. Or Annabeth or Piper or Hazel or Frank or Nico or Reyna. 

He thought of wrapping his hand around Leo's throat-

_Stop! I am in control. You cannot overcome me, godling, and it would be unwise to push me_

Leo, his brown eyes searching and inquisitive. He turned back fully to Jason, his brow furrowed like Jason was a machine that had spontaneously combusted. “Hey, babe, are you sure you’re okay?" he ventured, his voice cautious as he stepped tentatively closer to where Jason was floating. "You look...terrible. Come down here. We’ll get this stupid Bull and go back to Camp-”

“I’m fine, Leo” the eidolon retorted, but it started to lower Jason’s body back down to the ground as if it was just testing out Jason’s body like a new car. "I just need to talk to you about something"

Jason’s boots hit the concrete gently as the wind around his body died, a smirk playing on his lips and he hated this, truly despised it. 

What he despised, even more, was when Leo stepped close and Jason could feel the grip his hand had on the hilt tighten with purpose-

_No! Wait!-_

_-_ But Leo was too quick. He side-stepped Jason's upwards stabbing, jumping back on the balls of his feet and spinning around, a few feet away from Jason's body now.

The eidolon looked Leo in the eyes and shock and surprise was immediately replaced for horror, like a bolt of lightning striking across his features.

"Gold- _fuck- Perce!_ He's possessed! Eidolon!"

_“Very clever, son of Hephaestus. You truly are your Father’s son”_

.the eidolon quipped drily, sarcasm dripping from its raspy voice, overlaid over Jason’s voice, as it spun Jason’s sword through his fingers

Leo stumbled back from Jason's body as Percy hastily dropped his map. Leo stood by Percy, knives at the ready. "Listen here, you creepy paranormal activity knockoff, you need to leave my boyfriend’s body or I swear to the gods I'll make what I did to your mistress look _merciful,"_ Leo growled, flame flickering across his hands in threat.

Percy grinned, that wolf-like one all of Lupa's favored had. "What he said. Now hit the road, jack,"

" _Very bold of you, Fire. But to harm me, you'd have to harm Storm, and I believe that is something you wish to avoid_ _"_

Jason Grace was claustrophobic and his own body was now his own personal box. He couldn’t help Leo or Percy, couldn’t warn them of attacks or protect them. 

He was useless. 

"Well, as you know," Leo taunted, "I'm a very special boy. I'm sure I can think of something. Just like when I was supposed to die with your mom, but I came back. Unlike your mom"

The eidolon screeched with indignation, twisting Jason's face into an ugly, furious maks and Jason could feel it's murderous rage swell in his chest. 

_'Leo, you dumbass'_ he thought, both seriously and fondly. 

He quickly thought of terrible things, things that might happen if Jason didn't regain control.

He imagined Leo hating him. 

He imagined Leo afraid of him. 

His body gave a small tremor and the sword shook in his hands

_Cease your pathetic attempts at freedom, son of Jupiter, before I find you too troublesome to keep alive_

“So, what exactly do you want? An apology? An autograph? A movie deal with _Warner Bros_ in the _Conjuring_ Universe?. Because I can only get you one of that, buddy. Maybe a new mom? I heard the American Foster System can do a brilliant job of doing that-"

The eidolon screeched, and Jason felt a low swoop in his chest as it raised his arms and threw both Leo and Percy back with a strong blast of wind. They stumbled, but Jason could see that they stayed upright 

**“ _What I want,”_ **the eidolon growled, it’s gold eyes flashing, **“ _is revenge. I want you dead, but I also want to see you beg for it. I want you to beg for death, to plead with this body to end your suffering. Because I want you to feel pain so terrible you’ll beg the boy you love to slit your pathetic throat. I want your last moments to be in fear and terror as the son of Jupiter watches you die by his sword. I want-”_**

Jason throws all of his mental weight at the foreign presence in his head so hard that the eidolon stumbles, its eyes blinking as blue sinks back through gold. 

“Shut the _fuck up,”_ Percy growls, pushing Leo behind him forcefully, his face twisted into s snarl and his sea-green eyes a deep, dark pit because the eidolon has made itself _clear._ The target here is Leo, and it'll anything to see him suffer. 

Jason feels the sting of terror as the eidolon sees Percy’s face, sees the anger and can’t help but let his satisfaction bleed into the eidolons consciousness. Percy is terrifyingly animalistic when in battle, and most monsters _know_ this, especially if his friends or family are in the immediate crosshairs. Loyalty, thy name is Perseus Jackson.

Jason can see Leo, from behind Percy's lean, lanky frame. He looks disgruntled by Percy shoving himself in front of him, but his eyes are a hot, burning fire, his mouth a sharp line. 

“Jason, fight it, okay? We’ll make sure this cheap poltergeist fucker does nothing. And speaking of, can you please fuck off? Your mistress is dead and we outnumber you, two to one buddy. Give up and we might not send your ass to Tartarus” he says, his voice shaking slightly. 

He’s afraid. And Jason’s not sure if it’s _for_ him or _of_ him.

The eidolon raises his sword, the golden blade catching the waning winter light of Detroit, grey clashing against gold. Jason feels it before it happens. The feeling he’s gotten since he was a kid, a tingling feeling on the balls of his feet and on the base of his head-

Jason’s body shoots forward with the wind, his sword clashing against Riptide, Percy’s green eyes hard and determined. 

The last time this happened, they had Piper, but now, Piper is on the other side of the country enjoying LA’s cold-but-still-warm winter sun. 

Each clash reverberates loudly in his ears, as gold pushes against bronze, sparks flying. Percy was the better swordsman, but Jason had the advantage of flight, constantly weaving and lifting out of reach.

“Stay. Still. So. I. Can. Hit. You” Percy gritted out, punctuating each word with a slash of his sword. 

Jason would laugh, except he can see Leo’s fearful eyes out of the corner of his own and his heart crumples like a crushed soda can. “ _Lo siento,_ Jason” he hears, faintly, as if it's more memory than actual reality as Percy pushes him back into the center of the warehouse, Leo’s voice small against the symphony of the fight. 

The eidolon’s glittering gold eyes sear into Leo’s, as it’s whispering thoughts fly by Jason. 

_What?- what does it mean?- his eyes- what’s in his hands-_

Jason has never been happier to be blinded by a flashbang in his entire life. 

The eidolon makes some sort of aborted screech as white shoots into Jason's eyes balls, slamming into his brain and sending Jason into a spiral of pain. 

A little-more-

He shoves up against the presence, pressing and tearing and the eidolon is _screeching_ like it’s being tortured and Jason thinks they've fallen to the floor. 

He doesn’t stop. He can’t hear. Can’t feel. Only this. Get free. Get free. ~~Freefreefreeree~~. 

The presence begins to crack and crumble and Jason is so close _,_ but-

But. 

The eidolon gives one last scream of pain and pulls on something from deep in Jason’s chest and he feels the charge in his blood as the thing in his head cracks open the heavens. 

He can’t see. 

But he can feel the swooping in his stomach as lightning breaks through the sky, and chases itself down down down, through the roof of the warehouse and-

_crk- **BOOM**! _

Jason takes his first breath. 

It tastes like metal and ozone and smoke. 

His eyes open. It’s blurry without his glasses where are his glasses. 

He stumbles upward, panting, eyes wide and hunted, but as blue as a topaz gem. His sword is on the ground, but he doesn’t care, not right now. 

He sees Percy on the ground. He’s groaning and making aborted movements to get up, his limbs shaking in the winter breeze. His hair looks burnt. He smells burnt too.

Jason feels the snow from the hole in the roof land on his messy hair, melting into his scalp. 

He walks past Percy. His feet feel heavy, like his hands and his head and his ribs feel tight, too tight-

Leo is so warm the snowflakes melt before they can reach his prone body. Jason's green bomber jacket swamps his lanky body, running slightly past his fingers and Leo's white shirt is burned why is it burned-

His brain is too heavy to really grasp what he’s looking at. Like he’s looking at something completely out of bounds with reality. 

“Leo,” he says, his voice completely level because he’s fine. He is and-

He 

isn’t 

breathing. 

His chest is still.

No movement. 

His eyes are half-opened but Leo isn’t there. That sliver of brown eyes is empty. No fire, no-

His chest fills with water. 

Oh, gods no. Oh sweet mercy no, gods please oh fuck no-

Percy, at some point, raced past Jason to Leo, pushing him out of the way. 

When did he get on the floor? He can’t remember. His palms sting. 

“20, 21, 22, 23-”

Then, like a strike of-

Jason gets up, his mind aware and running and fuck Leo, Jason needs to do _something._

In the past, Jason has always considered himself level-headed. That he could deal with a situation efficiently even if it scared him. And he has. He’s done it a _lot,_ but this is different.

This was quietly horrifying. This was a new breed of horror and the last time he felt like this he watched Leo _die-_

He pulls a small little phone out of his back pocket as he stands up, and he dials with shaking fingers and his mouth tastes of sweets and of nothing at all. His skin feels-not real, like he's a mannequin or a wax figure that's come to life, his skin pale and plastic-looking. 

_‘Only for emergencies. It has Chiron’s number, di Angelo’s, Will’s, Piper’s and Rachel’s’ Leo said, palming the phone one last time._

_He’s sad to see it go, Jason knows, but it’s the only monster-proof phone so it stays at the Big House, only given out for quests, but Jason can also see the satisfaction of a finished project shining under Leo’s face, like a torch underwater._

Leo’s face is waxy and still. 

The phone dials. It rings. Once, twice, three times before there’s a click and Chiron is answering with a clipped, “Hello?”. 

Jason opens his mouth, but his words stick to his tongue like bugs to honey and he can’t say it-

Compartmentalize. Shove it down, Grace. Now is not the time. Save him. 

LeoLeoLeoLeo. 

“Balor Limited Warehouse. Detroit. We need evac” he says, monotone. His words feel foreign, just like he’s still possessed by the eidolon. Chiron breathes out a heavy sigh, more of sadness than annoyance and he says something to someone in the back. 

“How serious is the injury, Jason? Is it something-”

“91, 92, 93, 94-”

“Leo stopped breathing around a minute ago. I think he’s in cardiac arrest. Caused by a bolt of lightning”

Suddenly, things so very quiet. There is no sound, only the faint feeling of the cold wind against Jason’s skin and wetness as snow sinks into his clothes. 

Percy is still pumping Leo’s chest, up and down, every so often tilting his head back and breathing into his mouth. 

Leo’s dark, calloused palms are turned upwards, his knives lost like Jason’s glasses. He wants to reach out, to entangle their fingers like Leo always does, to feel their warm roughness against his skin. 

But he can’t because Percy is working. 

Percy has a summer job as a lifeguard. He probably does this all the time. Leo will be fine. He has to be. 

Chiron shouts something to someone else in the room but Jason doesn’t care. His eyes are filled with cotton and his head hurts so much, so gods damned much-

“Nico is on his way right now,” Chiron says, back into Jason’s ear and Jason should feel happiness but Jason is numb. There is nothing in his head except for faint traces of static electricity and water. 

"Jason, can you tell me if anyone else is injured? Is Percy-"

Jason feels sick. 

"I think I'm in shock"

His head feels like it’s going to explode-

Chiron is saying something but he can't hear anything over the ringing in his ears

“51, 52, 53- C’mon Leo you can do this-”

‘ _Tell me you love me’ he says, his body silhouetted by the rising sun, his face shadowed as he hovers above Jason, his legs at either side of his hips._

_His dark hair is touched by honey, his dark skin sleep-warm and soft._

_Jason can just barely make out the smile on his face, his face hidden in shadows._

_‘I love you’_

Then, like the birth of a star, Leo Valdez gasps, roughly, his breath coarse and his body jerking with new life-

Jason steps forward.

Jason hurts. His head and his heart ache and his equilibrium is gone why is the ground so close? His tongue feels too heavy and his eyes too blurry. Even his breathing is stilted and hard as he scrambles at the loose concrete, his body failing against the wet, cold ground. 

Is Percy calling for him? Is Leo okay? Jason just needs a nap-

Oh. He's in shock. He remembers that now.

He passes out, body thudding against the wet, cold concrete, his hand still slightly outstretched. 

‘ _Well, te amo también, Jason’_

* * *

Jason wakes up with a mouthful of cotton and feeling comfortably numb. 

It's nice. Aside from his dry mouth and aching jaw. 

The mattress beneath him is firm. Not exactly comfortable, but he's used to worse. 

It's pleasant. His skin tingles, like someone ran a soft, cool cloth over his entire body and his fingers itch slightly, with the chance to move or to grip. 

He flexes his fingers, stretching the creaking joints until they cracked pleasantly. 

Where is he? 

Slowly, his body comes back to him. His eyes slip open, revealing a soft, dim glow from some kind of lamp and a white ceiling. He categorizes each bump and cracks as he pulls his consciousness out of the hazy, murky river-bank of sleep. 

His arms are weak at first, but he stretches them out from his body, his mind fleeting by on what his fingers bump into. His mind can't stay still, his body stuck between consciousness and sleep. 

He turns his head, smacking his lips as he does. Where are his glasses? Everything is so blurry without them-

A few beds across from him was a blurry shape made from a dark blob and a fuzzy white outline of a body, and that pulls at his heart but he can't remember why. He blinks and squints his eyes, trying to make out the person. Gods, where are his glasses-

A few things hit him at once; Like the fight and eidolon and Leo and Percy and lightning and LeoLeoLeo-

He stumbles out of bed onto shaking legs, 

He's panting heavily by the time he reaches Leo's bed because that's who's lying there. He sees his dark curly hair, recently cut and his high cheekbones and the slope of his wide nose and how _small_ he looks in the infirmary bed. 

It takes him an eternity and a half to get to him. He collapses on the bed, sitting precariously on the side of it, leaning on his arms for support to keep him from falling on top of Leo. 

Who stays unconscious. His face doesn't twitch. He's breathing, which is _good_ but Leo's not waking up and that scares Jason. He shifts, leaning on one hand while the other gently cups Leo's sharp jaw. 

He's warm to the touch, in that familiar way Leo always is. Like pressing your palm to a hot window or the skin of someone who's spent all day in the hot sun. 

( _"You're just using me. Like I'm a space heater you can occasionally make out with"_

_"Occasionally?"_

_"I will push you out of this chair and sit in it myself"_

_"What! Why?"_

_"... Shut up and watch the movie, Grace, before I amp up the heat and make this place into my own personal crematorium"_

_"Okay! Not need to be so violent")_

Leo is lying still on the white bed, his curls stark against the stiff white of the pillow. 

It’s dark outside. Night, he supposes, his mouth tasting of sleep, his eyes stiff. He...He just needs to look at him, for a while. To make sure he was okay. Just in case. 

He watches him. He watches the slow, but deep movements of his chest, he watches the way his lips have parted slightly to breathe. His watches. Leo has his heat back, the star at the center of his chest that fuels him and Jason can feel it from where he’s sitting, perched on the edge of Leo’s bed. His hand reaches out of its own accord, gently brushing his fingers down the side of his face, following the line of his jaw. His skin is so warm. 

A ghost of breath brushes past Jason’s cheek and he’s breathing and Jason didn’t kill him. 

Jason didn’t kill him. 

Jason didn’t-

He’s alive. He rests his ear right on Leo’s naked chest, right above his heart, his hands gripping his sides. 

_Thump, da-thump, da-thump, da-thump, da-thump-_

Tears were never Jason’s thing. They were too big, too emotional, too loud. Jason prided himself on putting his duty above emotion most days, but this-

He buried his head into Leo’s chest, surrounded by the scent of fire and Leo’s lingering cologne and that medicinal smell you only found in Camp’s infirmary as tears dragged their way out of his dark eyes, slipping down his face until Jason could taste them in his mouth, salt mixing with sleep. 

“Jason?”

Breath caught in his throat, stilling his tears as Leo’s scratchy voice stumbled out of his mouth, his chest rumbling. His voice was wonderful. Warm and deep and sleep-rough.

_(alivealivealivealivealivealivealivealive)_

Can you really blame Jason for burying himself closer?

“Why does my chest hurt so much?”

Then, like he’d been shocked, Jason immediately pulled himself up right away

"Leo, oh _gods-"_ he says, eyes wide and fearful. Did he hurt him?. 

Leo's eyes softened as he looked up at Jason, his eyes soft and hazy with sleep and pity. Leo drags him into him for a hug. His arms are warm around his shoulders and Jason gingerly pulls him in, wrapping his arms around Leo's neck. 

His heart is beating out a symphony on his ribs, paced and constant. 

He's safe and warm and okay. 

_It's alright._

"Leo," he says again, but this time it's gets stuck in his throat and it comes out like a sob because-

Because he's sobbing. 

Jason stopped Leo's heart _._ He killed him. His body is racked with silent sobs as he thinks about how close he was to ending Leo's life in one move. If Percy wasn't there, Leo would've died. Then and there, on the rough concrete ground of some nameless warehouse in Detroit. 

Jason Grace legally killed Leo Valdez. 

How could Leo stay with someone who stopped his _heart?._

"Hey, hey it's okay, it's okay" Leo mumbles into Jason's hair, his hands running circles into Jason's back. 

It's _not._

"I stopped your heart". Saying it aloud feels like he's confessing. It feels like damnation to the lowest pit in Tartarus. 

Leo stills his comfort. His warm hands laying flat and still against Jason's spine. "Get up for a sec, Jace," Leo says, loudly, or at least at a normal volume, but it's amplified in the screaming quiet of the Infirmary. 

Jason complies, sitting back, wiping away his tears as Leo pushes himself up on his hands. 

Leo frowns at him, unexpectedly. "Sit here, dude" he frowns, patting the bed. He's pulled up his legs, so half the bed is unoccupied. He clambers around, falling onto his ass on the firm mattress as he was ordered to do.

Leo grins, pushing his cheeks up and showing off his sharp canines. 

Jason looks him in the eyes. 

His smile falls and Jason notes that sadness has never been a good look on Leo. He shuffles forward on the bed, so his knees are knocking with Jason's, the standard white linen pants of the infirmary stark against Leo's skin, while it blends with Jason's. 

Hands shoot out, to grip Jason's and he lets Leo do it, his dark, calloused hands gripping Jason's hands, just as calloused but in different places. 

Leo turns Jason's hands over in his own, thumbs running up and down his knuckles and lacing their fingers together. Jason watches, in apathetic fascination. He's tired. His face is stiff with dried tears and his body feels heavy. 

( _-He could see his splayed legs, his calloused palms facing towards the sky-_ ) 

Jason swallows thickly around the memory. 

"I love you, y'know? And some cheap extra from the Conjuring isn't going to change that"

Jason knows Leo loves him. He remembers the first time he said it, as he prepared to die so he could save the World. He remembers the second time, right when he stepped back into Camp after he died, his grin infectious. He remembers the third time and the fourth time and every time after that. 

Instead of answering, Jason turns their interlaced hands over, he sees _it._

It's on his right arm. It snakes around under his bicep and runs underneath his arm until it curves around the underside of his elbow and runs up the upper side of his forearm. 

It looks like a lightning strike, imprinted on his dark skin. It's a healing pink, as it picks itself along his skin. 

A Lichtenberg figure. 

Leo follows Jason’s eyes until they stop at the scar, and Jason hears the surprise in his voice when he chuckles out a “Neat”. 

“I did that, you know,” Jason says, monotone because looking at the evidence of Jason’s weakness makes him sick. Looking at the evidence that Jason _hurt_ Leo. He tries to pull his hands away, but Leo holds strong, his sunlight-warm hands gripping onto Jason’s like a lifeline. 

“Jason. I _love_ you” he says again, but this time, annoyance rears it’s ugly head because Jason knows, goddamnit, he knows what he’s going to lose and maybe Leo sees it in his eyes or in the way his shoulders tense, or in his frown so he grips even tighter to Jason’s hands, pressing their knees together in this dimly lit room in December, blue crushed beneath brown as their eyes locked on to each other. 

“Jason. I don’t give a shit about what you think you did or didn’t do. I love you. I’ve loved you when I was 15 and suicidal and I’ll love you when I’m 50 and old and wrinkly. And some eidolon isn’t going to change that. Do you really value my love so little that you think some monster can make me think differently?. I _know_ you, Jason Grace, down to the molecular structure of your bones and I know you’d never hurt me purposely” Leo rants, eyes hard and unwavering. He’s a spitting fire, sparks flying everywhere as he talks. 

_Do you really value my love so little?_

“I….I just couldn’t _do_ anything. I had to watch as it taunted and threatened you and-” he says, voice cracking with emotion. He’s wrung dry of tears, but he wants to. He just wants to breakdown and cry and cry. “I woke up in my body and you weren’t breathing, Leo. _You were legally_ _dead._ And it was my powers that did it”. 

“I get it, Jason. I really really do get it. I get the guilt and the hatred and that ugly feeling in your chest that makes you want to _run,_ but because I get it, I know it’s…..irrelevant,” Leo says and he grimaces at his own word choice but moves on quickly, words tripping over themselves to get out quicker. “Should I go to Jail because I blew up New Rome when I was possessed? Should I blame myself for my mom’s death because I couldn’t control the fire like I’m supposed to?” 

“No!” Jason blurts out, purely on instinct because Leo should never blame himself for those things. They were out of his control completely. “No! You should never do that. It wasn’t your fault that those things occurred. You had no control over the situation-”

Leo’s hands are on either side of Jason’s face. 

Jason pauses in his ramblings, his blue eyes wide and frazzled as he looks into Leo’s. 

“Listen to yourself, _idiota,”_ he chides, voice soft and quiet. Leo doesn’t use that voice much, save for when he’s comforting someone or something, like Festus or Harley or Piper. Sometimes even Jason. 

Jason can feel his own thin defense cracking, that small voice in his head that he’s perpetuated tugging at his mind with grubby hands slowly quieting. 

_You had no control over the situation._

“I still _hurt you,”_ he stresses, eyes shiny. He hurt Leo, but Leo’s accidently burnt him more times than he can count and what Leo did when he was possessed doesn't make him guilty so maybe Jason falls into the same category. 

Leo smiles, a small one, just for Jason. “I know, _mi cielo,_ and I don’t care”

Leo’s so close that he doesn’t even have to move much to kiss him. 

Leo’s hands stay at either side of Jason’s head, rubbing soothing circles into his cheekbones with Leo’s thumbs. Jason places one on his waist, and the other on his right forearm, where he gingerly follows the pattern of the scar. His chest is filled with water and there’s still that ugly little voice at the back of his head but Jason is content with this, just for a bit. He’s content with Leo’s forgiveness and his love and his kisses. 

He doesn’t have to think about the morning or his lingering guilt. He can just think about Leo’s warm lips against his, his burning hands on Jason’s electric skin, his soft curls and the way he smiles against Jason’s lips. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> gimme some sweet sweet kudos/comments kiddos. feed me.


End file.
